You Have To Try This... Seriously.

I'm in love, I'm absolutely in love. Yes, also with my husband, but this particular love is for an amazing rice salad. My friend, Kristina, shared some with me and it was so good I had to make some for myself. Now it haunts me. I'm sitting at my desk finishing up some work, dealing with a constipated four-year-old, and dreaming about this wonderful salad. It's so good I have to share it....

Sir Wasaono's Infamous Indonesian Rice Salad

2 C cooked, cooled brown rice* (I used three cups of leftover rice from dinner the night before and adjusted the veggies accordingly)

1/2 C raisins (I used dried mangos- mmmmmm!)

2 chopped scallions

1/4 C toasted sesame seeds

1/2 C thinly-sliced water chestnuts (didn't have any, didn't use them)

1 C fresh mung bean sprouts (didn't have any, didn't use them)

1/4 C toasted cashews

1 large, chopped green pepper (I didn't have one so I used a seedless cucumber instead)

1 stalk chopped celery

fresh parsley

dressing:

3/4 C orange juice

1/2 C safflower oil (I used canola)

1 T sesame oil

3-4 T tamari sauce (I didn't have any so I used high quality soy sauce and a tsp. of sugar)

2 T dry sherry (didn't have any, didn't use it)

juice of 1 lemon

1-2 cloves minced garlic

1/2-1 t freshly grated ginger root (didn't have any, didn't use it)

salt & pepper

Combine all ingredients and serve chilled on greens (we just ate the rice mixture although served on greens sounds good too). Also we used only half of the dressing for the rice (using all of it would be too much). I'm looking forward to using the rest soon though!

It made about 6 cups of salad and was not nearly enough. It was scarfed down quickly (mostly by me!). Here's a photo of it before dinner. It had already been sampled by me, my mother-in-law, Pete, and Bobby...


If anyone makes it, let me know what you think and if you're in the area, share some with me!!!